A Pakistani Taliban militant suspected of shooting Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has threatened a second attempt on his life, saying in a tweet that next time, “there would be no mistake.”
ISLAMABAD – Pakistani Taliban activist allegedly shot and badly injured nine-year-old Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has threatened a second attempt on his life, tweeting that next time, “there would be no mistake.” . Twitter on Wednesday permanently suspended the account with the threatening post.
The threat prompted Yousafzai to post herself, asking both the Pakistani army and Prime Minister Imran Khan to explain how her alleged shooter, Ehsanullah Ehsan, escaped government custody.
Ehsan was arrested in 2017, but escaped in January 2020 from a so-called safe house where he was detained by the Pakistani intelligence agency. The circumstances of his arrest and escape have been shrouded in mystery and controversy.
Since escaping, Ehsan has been interviewed and communicated with Pakistani journalists via the same Twitter account that carried the Urdu threat. He had more than one Twitter account, all of which were suspended.
The government is investigating the threat and immediately asked Twitter to close the account, said Raoof Hasan, the prime minister’s adviser.
Ehsan, a longtime member of the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, as they are known, urged Yousafzai to “return home because we have a score to establish with you and your father.” The tweet added that “this time there will not be a mistake. “
Yousafzai, who created a fund that promotes education for girls around the world and even funded a girls’ school at her home in the Swat Valley, called on the government and military to link up with Ehsan’s tweet.
“This is the former spokesman for Pakistan’s Tehrik-i-Taliban, who supports the attack on me and many innocent people. Now he threatens people on social networks. “How did he escape?”
The Associated Press’ questions to the military went unanswered.
The charges against Ehsan include a horrific 2014 attack on the Pakistani army’s public school that killed 134 – mostly children, some as young as five.
He also took responsibility for Yousafzai’s 2012 shooting in the Swat Valley. In the attack, the gunman went to Yousafzai with a school bus in which he was traveling, asked for her name and then fired three bullets. He was only 15 at the time and angered the Taliban with his campaign to educate girls.
Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, a teacher, ran a school in Swat Valley for boys and girls. In 2007, when the Pakistani Taliban took control of the area, they forced girls out of schools and ruled with a brutal hand until 2009, when they were expelled by the Pakistani army.
During his years in military detention, Ehsan was never charged. Later, the authorities never explained how he left the country and traveled to Turkey, where he is believed to live today.
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Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed of Islamabad contributed to the report.